Over in the West, 2 days of racing that saw SCTA Scholarship Holders Romy Wolstencroft and Jake Hynes in the Junior along with Ryan Marsh in Youth “A”. All Athletes had to race 2 Super Sprint races of 300m Swim, 12km Cycle and a 2.5km Run. Heat and final format with an “A” and “B” Final with 8 progressing in the Junior Female, 14 progressing in Junior Male and 12 progressing in the Youth “A”.

Romy Wolstencroft didn’t have an ideal heat, where she had to chase pretty hard on the bike to bring back some time and catch the leading females. She needed to work a bit harder in the run to bridge the gap and to make sure we progressed to the final. Which she did in 3rd.

The final saw another gutsy performance where she had to work hard again on the bike to bridge the gap. This time she did and was in the first pack with the leading females. Off onto the run leg and she stamped her authority. She was up against a gutsy and tenacious Charlotte Derbyshire. They ran neck and neck for the whole 2.5km with 1 sec separating them in a sprint finish for the Australian Championship. Romy walked away with the silver medal and running 2nd in the series.

Jake Hynes first heat started off well with a great start in the swim to lead to the first exit of the water then had to run down the pier and jump back in the water. He exited the water in a good spot and was with the lead pack on the bike. There was a chase pack that had to work hard but they held off the pack to start the run. Due to the nature of the heat to progress to the final it was a cat and mouse to see who could save energy for the final. Jake progressed to the ”A” Final with a 3rd place

The final was a cracker and it was on again in the swim. The start was pretty frantic and there was a lot of bargey where quite a few got catch up in it including Jake. He finished the swim and just missed the leading pack. They had a strong group that held to within 20 sec of the leading pack. Jake suffered with some cramping and his normal fast run was negated. He back the pace off and then got his rhythm going again. He finished of strongly to place 12th

Ryan Marsh biggest challenge was to get into the “A” Final racing against boys that are a year older and some of them with a lot more strength. Once again it is a great learning experience for Ryan and he swam hard to just miss the pack. The 2 other Queenslanders that were with him formed a pack and rode strongly to stay in front of the other boys that were chasing him. Off the bike and Ryan held onto his position and finish in the top 12 to progress to the ”A “ Final in which he was 10th.

Once again, the pace was on from the out stead and Ryan just lacked that top end speed to stay in touch with them. He battled on strongly and rode solo while the rest were in a pack. Never easy but he battled to the end to finish 12th. With another year in that category it will be interesting to see the progressive for next year.

In New Zealand we had Tara Partridge in the Ironman and Tania Gover in the 70.3. As usual these 2 crazy cats had a lot of fun out there on the race course. In cool and tough conditions. Tania had a great race to take out 3rd place on the podium in the 40-44. Tara had a great day out in the office where she had a great preparation going into the event. She smiled her way thru the race to finish in 13 hours 3 minutes and 49 sec to finish 19th place 40-44 years.

At the Queensland Youth Surf Championships, we had Peyton Craig, Jazzy Shults and Finn Barlow competing. Peyton took out the U/13 boys 1km beach run and was 3rd in Flags. Jazzy was 2nd U/14 female 1km beach run and 8th in beach sprint. Finn had a great day out with wins in U/12 Female Beach Relay and Board Relay, 2nd in Cameron and Board Relay and 8th in beach sprint.

Mackenzie Ofield lined up in the Queensland Athletics Meet in Brisbane where she did a PB by 30 secs in the 3000m walk. In the process her time she walked was 11sec faster than the “A” Squad qualifying time (“A” Squad – Australia’s Top 8) Let’s say she was very happy with her performance.

While the last race of the Queensland Triathlon Series was held at Raby Bay. This was the 7th Race in the series and was double points towards the Club Championships Point score in which SCTA was 2nd heading into the round. Michael Woodcock and Kevin Hammond took out category wins, while Brodie Gardner was 3rd OPEN Male. In the Super Sprint Chloe Turner 2nd and Kayleigh Foster 6th

While in Coffs Harbour for an Olympic Distance Qualifier for the World Championships we saw Brett Stalley 2nd, Pauline Ashley 6th and Wade Scougall 11th